Saturday, July 22, 2006

Learning and Fun Never StopThere's nothing better than a Kinetic Sculpture Race to prove that learning, fun, adventure, and sillyness do not have to stop at childhood. What could be cooler than people creating big, strange, decorated sculptures that are solely people-powered, and race through sand, mud bogs, water, and on land? We went to the Kinetic Sculpture Races at Da Vinci Days in Corvallis, OR and had so much fun, we're talking about building our own sculpture over the next year or so! Of course, Thinkerboy stood beside me through the mud and water races analyzing each design, the pros and cons of fat tires vs. skinny ones for optimum traction, and how the one design with the propeller gained much more speed in the water than all of the versions utilizing some sort of paddle-wheeled design. Divagirl just got muddy and enjoyed the spectacle!

At Da Vinci days, there were also all kinds of craft and activity booths, artwork, jugglers, music stages, and science projects to do. Last year we took a tour of a tsunami tank and wave generation facility. This year, a simple balance scale and lots of different kind of weights occupied my kids and their friend for almost half an hour. If you live anywhere near Oregon, don't miss this awesome 3-day event in the middle of summer.